An Arizona Department of Veterans' Services employee said he was fired last week after attending a veterans advisory meeting organized by U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake where the VA health-care crisis was discussed.

Steve Weintraub, a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves, worked for 13 months as an outreach coordinator for the department, informing veterans groups and community organizations about the department's programs. After returning from a series of meetings Wednesday, including the Flake meeting, Weintraub said, he was terminated by Deputy Director Robert Barnes.

Weintraub said Barnes told him he violated office protocol by attending the Flake meeting. Weintraub said Barnes cited an e-mail Barnes said was sent by public information officer Dave Hampton asking people to obtain approval before attending certain meetings.

Asked about the termination, Hampton replied in an e-mail, "We don't comment on personnel matters." Andrew Wilder, a press secretary for Gov. Jan Brewer, did not respond to an e-mail seeking information on the firing.

Weintraub told The Arizona Republic that he never saw Hampton's e-mail and that it was common for him to attend meetings called by elected officials. Weintraub produced an e-mail from a Flake aide asking him to attend the meeting at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post as the department's outreach coordinator.

When he arrived at the meeting, he said, he bumped into Barnes, who told him he was attending the meeting on behalf of Brewer's office because the department's director couldn't make it.

"After I got back, Bob Barnes came in my office, gave me my termination letter, said, 'There's never a good time for this.' He gave me the letter, and he said, 'We're going to have to let you go. The meeting ... you weren't supposed to be there.' "

Weintraub said his supervisors never gave him a performance assessment or talked to him about any issues with his performance. As an at-will employee, state officials can fire Weintraub without cause. His annual salary was $65,000.

"I am passionate about veterans. That's why I took this job," Weintraub said. " ... But the leadership is more concerned about what's going on on the Ninth Floor (the governor's office) more than what's going on in the veterans' community."